Good Defence or Poor Serving?

Seems to be a lot made about serving and how poor it is from certain players. After some painstaking research I can produce this.

This is the amount of times these players have been broken on their serve so far this year.

Novak Djokovic - 46 times - 27 matches played - Average 1.70 per match
Rafael Nadal - 46 times - 30 matches played - Average 1.53 per match
Roger Federer - 24 times - 26 matches played - Average 0.92 per match
Andy Murray - 55 times - 27 matches played - Average 2.03 per match
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - 39 times - 28 matches played - Average 1.39 per match
David Ferrer - 47 times - 33 matches played - Average 1.42 per match
Tomas Berdych - 39 times - 28 matches played - Average 1.39 per match
Janko Tipsarevic - 49 times - 28 matches played - Average 1.75 per match
Mardy Fish - 25 times - 13 matches played - Average 1.92 per match
John Isner - 35 times - 27 matches played - Average 1.29 per match

Discuss

Interesting stats - and %'s would show even greater clarity of the differences. You can kind of see that the faster servers (Federer and Tsonga) get broken less...but it is surprising that Murray as a faster server (faster than Federer on 1st serve) has the most breaks against him. This supports the view that he's easier to break than the others - and the breaks are often at the end of sets...as its important when the break occurs too.

But Federer's stat is amazing...just shows how well he backs up his serve - the difference between him and Murray is staggering...Murray broken 31 times more in 27 matches.

The Murray stats are concerning. As you say he serves quicker than Federer on the first serve speeds.

Tsonga stats are impressive given how gun-ho he can be. All or nothing type game. Ferrer's stats are good too.

I would be interested to see Federer's stats with more matches.

Nadal and Djokovic there is nothing between them. Intriguing to say the least.

Yes Federer has had a stellar 6 months really.

Think this supports the view that Murray's 2nd serve is his Achilles Heel. In terms of quality its barely top 40...and at the business end of sets its getting him broken too often for someone who is a top 4 player...I guess his ranking is supported by how good a returner he is...i.e. able to break back otherwise he'd be struggling more. As you say shows that Ferrer is a strong player and not particularly any easier to break than the others - infact harder to break than Djokovic and almost the same % as 140mph+ Tsonga! For a guy at 5'9' thats some going!

Intriguing as you say.

Actually Ferrer's strong defence of serve makes me wonder...

...Who would people say is the best server under say 6ft tall? (sorry if this isnt OP...perhaps should be another thread)

Under 6ft????

Simon perhaps?

Ever since the introduction of the court side measuring gun, a lot of the focus as regards serve stats & player comparisons has revolved around speed. But of course in terms of pure efficacy it's often far more about placement and angle .

I think that's the most credible explanation for Fed's stats being the best of the lot (and although no slouch, he's not the fastest, even at his best, as we know) ; and, to some degree (?) for Andy's being the worst

Yes lags I agree - that's what is usually said about the Fed serve - the accuracy and placement rather than speed or power make it effective,

Yep - and we could add the element of variation (coupled with a certain amount of disguise). Not to be under-estimated ......

I do take some heart from these stats, let's hope the old man has a good season!

The 'old man' will have a good season. He may not win 3-slams-a-year, but he is pretty good.

legendkillarV2 wrote:Under 6ft????

Simon perhaps?

Rochus, Goffin would be good to check.

Added average breaks per match

Widened it to top 10.

...and Ferrer himself (serving over 200kmh yesterday...not bad for 5'9).

Those stats are weird as Novak isnt anywhere near the top and yet has won a major and a Masters...hmmm...

lydian wrote:Actually Ferrer's strong defence of serve makes me wonder...

...Who would people say is the best server under say 6ft tall? (sorry if this isnt OP...perhaps should be another thread)

Hewitt at his best was so good and could easily fall in his category.
M Chang is the other one that comes to my mind.
What about Davydenko?

Janko Tipsarevic has a pretty good serve as well.

legendkillarV2, I suspect if you checked the number of times they were broken excluding matches against the "top four", the stats would be even more revealing.

Yeah that is kind of shocking that murray is so far behind in his serving numbers. He hasn't served particularly well this season except for a match here or match there. His second serve again is just being really picked on by the opposition. It was very surprising to see how much better david Ferrer held his serve than Novak, Rafa, and he almost laps Andy. I don't think Murray is going to win a slam until he solidifies that second serve or gets a very fortunate draw that opens up for him.